DSPRelated.com

A Simplified Matlab Function for Power Spectral Density

Neil Robertson March 3, 20204 comments

In an earlier post [1], I showed how to compute power spectral density (PSD) of a discrete-time signal using the Matlab function pwelch [2].  Pwelch is a useful function because it gives the correct output, and it has the option to average multiple Discrete Fourier Transforms (DFTs).  However, a typical function call has five arguments, and it can be hard to remember how to set them all and how they default.

In this post, I create a simplified PSD function by putting a...


Fractional Delay FIR Filters

Neil Robertson February 9, 202017 comments

Consider the following Finite Impulse Response (FIR) coefficients:

b = [b0 b1 b2 b1 b0]

These coefficients form a 5-tap symmetrical FIR filter having constant group delay [1,2] over 0 to fs/2 of:

D = (ntaps – 1)/2 = 2      samples

For a symmetrical filter with an odd number of taps, the group delay is always an integer number of samples, while for one with an even number of taps, the group delay is always an integer + 0.5 samples.  Can we design a filter...


Model Signal Impairments at Complex Baseband

Neil Robertson December 11, 20195 comments

In this article, we develop complex-baseband models for several signal impairments: interfering carrier, multipath, phase noise, and Gaussian noise.  To provide concrete examples, we’ll apply the impairments to a QAM system. The impairment models are Matlab functions that each use at most seven lines of code.  Although our example system is QAM, the models can be used for any complex-baseband signal.

I used a very simple complex-baseband model of a QAM system in my last


An Efficient Lowpass Filter in Octave

Paul Lovell November 6, 2019

This article describes an efficient linear-phase lowpass FIR filter, coded using the Octave programming language. The intention is to focus on the implementation in software, but references are provided for those who wish to undertake further study of interpolated FIR filters [1]- [3].

The input signal is processed as a vector of samples (eg from a .wav file), which are converted to a matrix format.   The complete filter is thus referred to as a Matrix IFIR or...


Compute Modulation Error Ratio (MER) for QAM

Neil Robertson November 5, 20192 comments

This post defines the Modulation Error Ratio (MER) for QAM signals, and shows how to compute it.  As we’ll see, in the absence of impairments other than noise, the MER tracks the signal’s Carrier-to-Noise Ratio (over a limited range).  A Matlab script at the end of the PDF version of this post computes MER for a simplified QAM-64 system.

Figure 1 is a simplified block diagram of a QAM system.  The transmitter includes a source of QAM symbols, a root-Nyquist...


Plotting Discrete-Time Signals

Neil Robertson September 15, 20195 comments

A discrete-time sinusoid can have frequency up to just shy of half the sample frequency.  But if you try to plot the sinusoid, the result is not always recognizable.  For example, if you plot a 9 Hz sinusoid sampled at 100 Hz, you get the result shown in the top of Figure 1, which looks like a sine.  But if you plot a 35 Hz sinusoid sampled at 100 Hz, you get the bottom graph, which does not look like a sine when you connect the dots.  We typically want the plot of a...


Interpolation Basics

Neil Robertson August 20, 201915 comments

This article covers interpolation basics, and provides a numerical example of interpolation of a time signal.  Figure 1 illustrates what we mean by interpolation.  The top plot shows a continuous time signal, and the middle plot shows a sampled version with sample time Ts.  The goal of interpolation is to increase the sample rate such that the new (interpolated) sample values are close to the values of the continuous signal at the sample times [1].  For example, if...


Part 11. Using -ve Latency DSP to Cancel Unwanted Delays in Sampled-Data Filters/Controllers

Steve Maslen June 18, 201918 comments
This final article in the series will look at -ve latency DSP and how it can be used to cancel the unwanted delays in sampled-data systems due to such factors as Nyquist filtering, ADC acquisition, DSP/FPGA algorithm computation time, DAC reconstruction and circuit propagation delays.

Some applications demand zero-latency or zero unwanted latency signal processing. Negative latency DSP may sound like the stuff of science fiction or broken physics but the arrangement as...


IIR Bandpass Filters Using Cascaded Biquads

Neil Robertson April 20, 201911 comments

In an earlier post [1], we implemented lowpass IIR filters using a cascade of second-order IIR filters, or biquads.  

This post provides a Matlab function to do the same for Butterworth bandpass IIR filters.  Compared to conventional implementations, bandpass filters based on biquads are less sensitive to coefficient quantization [2].  This becomes important when designing narrowband filters.

A biquad section block diagram using the Direct Form II structure [3,4] is...


Generating Partially Correlated Random Variables

Harry Commin March 23, 201921 comments
IntroductionIt is often useful to be able to generate two or more signals with specific cross-correlations. Or, more generally, we would like to specify an $\left(N \times N\right)$ covariance matrix, $\mathbf{R}_{xx}$, and generate $N$ signals which will produce this covariance matrix.

There are many applications in which this technique is useful. I discovered a version of this method while analysing radar systems, but the same approach can be used in a very wide range of...


Fractional Delay FIR Filters

Neil Robertson February 9, 202017 comments

Consider the following Finite Impulse Response (FIR) coefficients:

b = [b0 b1 b2 b1 b0]

These coefficients form a 5-tap symmetrical FIR filter having constant group delay [1,2] over 0 to fs/2 of:

D = (ntaps – 1)/2 = 2      samples

For a symmetrical filter with an odd number of taps, the group delay is always an integer number of samples, while for one with an even number of taps, the group delay is always an integer + 0.5 samples.  Can we design a filter...


Design a DAC sinx/x Corrector

Neil Robertson July 22, 20189 comments

This post provides a Matlab function that designs linear-phase FIR sinx/x correctors.  It includes a table of fixed-point sinx/x corrector coefficients for different DAC frequency ranges.

A sinx/x corrector is a digital (or analog) filter used to compensate for the sinx/x roll-off inherent in the digital to analog conversion process.  In DSP math, we treat the digital signal applied to the DAC is a sequence of impulses.  These are converted by the DAC into contiguous pulses...


Design of an anti-aliasing filter for a DAC

Markus Nentwig August 18, 2012
Overview
  • Octaveforge / Matlab design script. Download: here
  • weighted numerical optimization of Laplace-domain transfer function
  • linear-phase design, optimizes vector error (magnitude and phase)
  • design process calculates and corrects group delay internally
  • includes sinc() response of the sample-and-hold stage in the ADC
  • optionally includes multiplierless FIR filter
Problem Figure 1: Typical FIR-DAC-analog lowpass line-up

Digital-to-analog conversion connects digital...


Sampling bandpass signals

Josef Hoffmann June 26, 20215 comments
Sampling bandpass signals 1.1 Introduction

It is known [1], [3] that bandpass signals can be sampled with a sampling frequency which is lower than the sampling frequency according to the sampling theorem.

Fig. 1 shows an example of how the spectrum of a bandpass signal sampled with $f_s$ (Fig. 1a) arises in the baseband with $−f_s / 2 ≤ f < f_s/2$. The bandpass signal is assumed to have a center frequency $f_c = (f_{max} + f_{min})/2$ and bandwidth $\Delta f...


Discrete Wavelet Transform Filter Bank Implementation (part 1)

David October 27, 20101 comment

UPDATE: Added graphs and code to explain the frequency division of the branches

The focus of this article is to briefly explain an implementation of this transform and several filter bank forms. Theoretical information about DWT can be found elsewhere.

First of all, a 'quick and dirty' simplified explanation of the differences between DFT and DWT:

The DWT (Discrete Wavelet Transform), simply put, is an operation that receives a signal as an input (a vector of data) and...


Instantaneous Frequency Measurement

Parth Vakil February 4, 200821 comments

I would like to talk about the oft used method of measuring the carrier frequency in the world of Signal Collection and Characterization world. It is an elegant technique because of its simplicity. But, of course, with simplicity, there come drawbacks (sometimes...especially with this one!).

In the world of Radar detection and characterization, one of the key characteristics of interest is the carrier frequency of the signal. If the radar is pulsed, you will have a very wide bandwidth, a...


Spline interpolation

Markus Nentwig May 11, 20147 comments

A cookbook recipe for segmented y=f(x) 3rd-order polynomial interpolation based on arbitrary input data. Includes Octave/Matlab design script and Verilog implementation example. Keywords: Spline, interpolation, function modeling, fixed point approximation, data fitting, Matlab, RTL, Verilog

Introduction

Splines describe a smooth function with a small number of parameters. They are well-known for example from vector drawing programs, or to define a "natural" movement path through given...


Digital PLL’s, Part 3 – Phase Lock an NCO to an External Clock

Neil Robertson May 27, 201834 comments

Sometimes you may need to phase-lock a numerically controlled oscillator (NCO) to an external clock that is not related to the system clocks of your ASIC or FPGA.  This situation is shown in Figure 1.  Assuming your system has an analog-to-digital converter (ADC) available, you can sync to the external clock using the scheme shown in Figure 2.  This time-domain PLL model is similar to the one presented in Part 1 of this series on digital PLL’s [1].  In that PLL, we...


Canonic Signed Digit (CSD) Representation of Integers

Neil Robertson February 18, 2017

In my last post I presented Matlab code to synthesize multiplierless FIR filters using Canonic Signed Digit (CSD) coefficients.  I included a function dec2csd1.m (repeated here in Appendix A) to convert decimal integers to binary CSD values.  Here I want to use that function to illustrate a few properties of CSD numbers.

In a binary signed-digit number system, we allow each binary digit to have one of the three values {0, 1, -1}.  Thus, for example, the binary value 1 1...


Demonstrating the Periodic Spectrum of a Sampled Signal Using the DFT

Neil Robertson March 9, 201920 comments

One of the basic DSP principles states that a sampled time signal has a periodic spectrum with period equal to the sample rate.  The derivation of can be found in textbooks [1,2].  You can also demonstrate this principle numerically using the Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT).

The DFT of the sampled signal x(n) is defined as:

$$X(k)=\sum_{n=0}^{N-1}x(n)e^{-j2\pi kn/N} \qquad (1)$$

Where

X(k) = discrete frequency spectrum of time sequence x(n)